by Brett Konen
There’s something about sipping a glass of Scotch that makes us feel impossibly sophisticated. There’s a timelessness to it, evoking mahogany furniture and roaring fireplaces. It brings people into close confidence as they share a spirit that’s been any number of years in the making. It takes tradition and measures it by the glassful.
Fremont Studios may not be made of mahogany, but it’s sufficiently swanky, and the company drawn in by the promise of Scotch, local whiskies, beer and wine at next weekend’s Hop Scotch Beer and Scotch Festival promises to be top-shelf. Festivities for the 11th annual event will take place on Friday evening as well as all day on Saturday.
In kicking off a second decade of what’s become a Seattle tradition, Hop Scotch also has a new offering: a one-of-a-kind, meet-the-makers whiskey lunch, held on Saturday from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. The VIP affair gets you an all-you-can-enjoy ticket featuring Northwest whiskey flights, an expert-guided Scotch tasting, several standout Fremont eateries, and a menagerie of local beer and wine samples for $75 in advance, $90 day-of.
Questions about what you’re tasting? This is a unique chance to ask the distillers that crafted them. Never done a whiskey tasting? Learn from a walk-through of five vintages of The Glenlivet single malt Scotch. Leave time enough to swill the signature Hop Scotch cocktail, and look forward to three exclusive samples the event planners have lined up for you. Lunch-goers are invited to stay for the festival when it opens at 2:00 pm, though additional tasting tokens (if you need them) will have to be purchased separately.
The festival is focused on catering to individual preferences, offering four admission packages suited to your relative interest in beer, spirits or both. Regardless of which you choose, you’re supporting the Seattle International Film Festival, held each year between May and June. How’s that for a good excuse? Buy tickets here!
Hop Scotch Festival || Friday—Saturday, February 22—23 || Friday 5:00 pm—12:00 am, Saturday 2:00 pm—12:00 am || Fremont Studios, Seattle || Four admission packages available: $20-$50
